Born and raised in New Jersey, David Rothberg has been serving Temple Chayai Shalom, in Easton, MA, as Cantorial Soloist since 2011. He is known for his ability to shift from a traditional to a contemporary sound on a dime, his expert guitar work, his warm engaging voice, and his enthusiasm for teaching Jewish subjects, both musical and not. A veteran of many musical worlds -- acoustic singer-songwriter, classic rock, jazz and blues – David uses all of his diverse musical experience to create an exciting and uplifting musical culture.

A mid-life career changer, he began as an advertising executive, but was eventually drawn to the Jewish world by an ever-growing interest in his heritage. In 2000, he made the big move -- to live in Israel for a year to study Jewish texts. That one-year project turned into three years at the Pardes Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, from which he received a Master of Jewish Education degree. Upon returning to the United States, David was a founding Judaic Studies faculty at the Shoshana S. Cardin School, a Jewish Community High School in Baltimore and served at Judaic Programs Coordinator at the Rashi School in Newton, MA.

David loves the diversity of his role at TCS – creating a musical culture, leading worship, writing new music for worship and education, creating events such as Rockin’ Shabbat Eve and Hippie Shabbat, working with bar/bat mitzvah students, leading choirs, and teaching everyone from pre-school to seniors. He believes that, for many people, music can be a key to Jewish connection and community, and aims to strengthen that connection in his work.